A virtual keyboard displayed on a computer display is used to emulate a conventional keyboard. The coordinate position of the keys on the virtual keyboard are stored as an array in the computer's memory. The key coordinates are ordered in the array based on their frequency of occurrence. A pointing device is used to select keys on the virtual keyboard. The input points generated by the pointing device are compared to the key coordinates stored in the key coordinate array one at a time. A predetermined bounding criteria is applied to determine whether the input point matches that key. If so, then the key is assigned to the input point and the search is discontinued. The search for a matching key continues until a match is found or until the end of the array is reached.